The organization tasked with promoting Vancouver Island as a tourist destination has started to spend resources to encourage politicians to make tourism a higher priority in their election campaigns.
Tourism Vancouver Island released its strategic plan June 18 and most of its aims are much the same as in the past.
“The biggest changes are shifts that we’re making … on growing the awareness of the value of tourism,” Tourism Vancouver Island CEO Dave Petryk told Business in Vancouver after he released the report.
The part of the document that describes what Tourism Vancouver Island is doing to increase awareness of the value of tourism says that the “focus of the campaign will be directed at the region’s MLAs, mayors and councils in order to ensure tourism is a priority in their election platforms.”
Other aspects of Tourism Vancouver Island’s operations are set to stay much the same: focused on marketing primarily to short-haul markets such as mainland B.C., Alberta and Washington state.
The report comes as Destination British Columbia, which is the organization that markets B.C. as a tourist destination, is putting the final touches on its strategic plan and plans to release the document this summer. A larger Destination B.C. rebranding initiative is likely to be announced in the fall, according to Destination B.C. CEO Marsha Walden.
While B.C.’s tourism brand has long been connected to slogans such as “You gotta be here” and “Super, Natural British Columbia,” Vancouver Island’s slogan has been “Everyone needs a little Island time.”
Petryk said there are no plans to change Vancouver Island’s slogan.
